Microalgae as Sustainable Food Resources: Prospects, Novel Species, Bioactive Compounds, Cultivation Process and Food Processing

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Background

Microalgae have long been consumed as food and food supplements due to their unique nutritional values. The cyanobacteria Nostoc and Arthrospira (Spirulina) had been historically recorded as food for consumption before the 1900s. About 70 years ago, Cholorela and Arthrospira started to be cultivated and marketed as food supplements in the form of dry whole biomass. Later on, other species of microalgae have been industrially exploited to produce nutritional ingredients such as DHA and carotenoids.

Due to global population growth and limited food supply from terrestrial crops, microalgae have been prospected as sustainable food sources to provide single-cell protein, beneficial carbohydrates, essential lipids, etc. Microalgae have some advantages over traditional plants because they can be cultivated in marine waters and infertile lands with high areal productivity and fertilizer utilization efficiency. In addition, microalgae have the capacity to grow mixotrophically and even heterotrophically with organic substrates such as acetate, which might be produced eventually through artificial photosynthesis.

Microalgae have also been prospected as rich sources of bioactive compounds with nutritional and health-promoting properties, and among the list, there might be carotenoids, phytocyanins polyunsaturated fatty acids, sterols, polysaccharides, vitamins, and so on.

The purpose of this research topic is to update the recent research efforts on exploring microalgae as future food and food ingredients from the perspective of sustainable food supply and health-promoting food supplements. The strategic roles of microalgae in the future food supply might be speculated to provide proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates, and the incorporation of microalgal biomass into food products could be presented to show the current research trends. The biochemistry, nutritional functions, markets, production processes, and techno-economic analysis of bioactive compounds from microalgae might be of great interest to food and nutrition scientists.

This research topic aims to collect original research articles, mini-reviews, reviews, method articles, technology reports, perspectives, and opinion articles covering recent advances in exploring microalgae as food and food supplements. Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

· Bioprospecting of microalgae as sustainable solutions for future food supply with proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates.

· Exploration, Isolation, and application of bioactive compounds with nutritional values derived from microalgal biomass.

· Screening, selection, and breeding of microalgal species as crops for human nutrition.

· Phototrophic, mixotrophic and heterotrophic cultivation of microalgal species exploited for food production.

· Development of microalgal processes for food or food ingredient production.

Keywords: microalgae, food, dietary supplements, antioxidants, polyunsaturated fatty acids

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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